Football around the area

It was a sweet win for the Shell Lake Lakers over their Lakeland Conference rivals, the Cameron Comets. The team gathered in the end zone after the game to sing “Happy Birthday” to teammate Sean Heckel. His gift from them was the 40-14 win. - photo by Larry Samson

Larry Samson | Staff writer

CAMERON/BARRON – Shell Lake went on the offensive as they beat Cameron 40-14 in Cameron on Friday, Sept. 9. Shell Lake amassed 405 yards on defense and held Cameron to 140 yards to dominate in the game.

Shell Lake received the opening kickoff and Carter Lawrence took the ball 86 yards for the touchdown. The kick by Evan Knutson was good and Shell Lake never looked back. Cameron took the ball down into Shell Lake territory but turned over it on downs with a strong Laker defense. This was the defining moment of the game as it gave the defense the confidence they were lacking. A fumble on a 42-yard line returned the ball to Cameron but the defense once again stopped the Comets. The Shell Lake drive ended with an 11-yard Lawrence touchdown and it was 14-0. Bob Bontekoe tackled the punter deep in Laker territory and Sean Heckel poked it through on a 2-yard run; it was now 20-0. The Comets scored in the third quarter and it was a 20-6 game at halftime. A Zach Jensen interception set up Heckel’s second touchdown in the third quarter. Lawrence had a 63-yard run to set up Heckel’s third touchdown. It was Heckel’s birthday and the line was blocking for him. The game finished with a well-deserved and earned win.

Lawrence had 293 yards rushing and three touchdowns. Heckel had 57 yards and three touchdowns and Zach Jensen had 45 yards rushing. Shell Lake gave the ball over to Cameron with five fumbles while Cameron gave up three interceptions and one fumble.

Shell Lake will host Webster in a conference game on Friday, Sept. 15. Webster is 2-2 overall and they are coming off a 29-0 loss to Unity. Game time is at 7 p.m.

Spooner beat Barron, 42-0, in Barron on Friday, Sept. 9. The win gives the Rails a 1-1 record in the Heart O’North Conference and 2-2 overall. Spooner scored two touchdowns in the first quarter and three in the third quarter, it was a 36-0 game at halftime. The scoring was evenly divided between the running backs. Ryan Lauterbach had 127 yards and one touchdown. John Nauertz had 54 yards and one touchdown. Sam Melton had 32 yards and one touchdown. Chase Melton, Austin Bauer and Carter Bell put touchdowns on the board for the Rails. The Rails had 280 yards rushing. Noah Christianson intercepted a pass and ran 72 yards for a touchdown. Coach Josh Fizel said this after the game: “It was a good program win. We were able to get a lot of kids into the game and that varsity experience will continue to help us build depth. We talked about being a more consistent football team and I thought we executed well in all three phases of the game. We played consistent for longer periods on Friday. It was nice to see our growth in that area from the previous weeks.”

Spooner will host the 2-0 Hayward Hurricanes on Friday, Sept 15. Hayward is coming off a 27-21 win over Ladysmith. In looking at the Hayward game Fizel said, “Hayward is an outstanding football team. They have a couple of the best running backs we will see, they are very explosive. They do a great job of running the option and challenging your discipline. Our kids will need to be mentally tough for 48 minutes.”